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In the 80s I lived in P.A. and my dad had designed a TV with a descrambler on the side that gave us many many channels. There was a movie channel that would play new released movies, the same one, back to back. Then it would switch to a different movie and play that one over and over. What was that channel name???
1983, there was about 20 channels, cost was about 20 bucks a month. I then bought a box at Radio Shack that coverted the cable channels to UHF, with that I had probably 30-35 channels.
CATV (community access television) began in the 1940's as a way for mountain towns to get a shared broadcast signal that was impossible to receive without a giant antenna. Before coaxial cable was used, the signal would regularly go out when it rained.
In 1976, the FCC used its rule-making power to require that new systems now had to have 20 channels. Since WTCG (later WTBS) was the first superstation, the channels were made up with rebroadcast of local network television, and public access.
HBO November 8, 1972
WTBS December 17, 1976
CBN April 29, 1977
USA September 22, 1977
WGN America October 1978
CSPAN March 19, 1979
ESPN September 7, 1979 CNN 1 June 1980
MTV August 1, 1981
CINEMAX August 1, 1980
EWTN August 15, 1981
TWC (The Weather Channel) May 2, 1982
HLN (Headline New) January 1, 1982
CNN & MTV made cable television very popular even if you had good reception with a home antenna. The Iran hostage crisis where 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days started on November 4, 1979.
ESPN's first show was was broadcast to only 1.4 million cable subscribers. In 1984 the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) purchased 100% of ESPN from the Rasmussens and Getty Oil. ESPN's breakthrough moment occurred in 1987, when it secured a contract with the NFL to broadcast eight games during that year's regular season – all of which aired on Sunday nights.
By the late 1980's cable TV was in 50% of American homes.
TiVo Digital Video recorder sold its first model, March 31, 1999 which could record 14 hours of standard definition TV. The second series came out in about 2002. In April 2006 ABC announced that you no longer needed TiVo as they would air their shows for free the next day on the web (but you couldn't skip commercials). TiVo series 3 came on the market September 12, 2006 and had support for high-definition broadcasts.
February 2007, Netflix introduced video on demand via the Internet.
Last edited by PacoMartin; 07-10-2016 at 02:30 PM..
In 1948, only 1 percent of America’s households had a TV set. By 1953, more than 50 percent had a TV. On September 16, 1953 the first widescreen movie (Cinemascope) was shown to allow movies to compete with television on a better scale. The majority of TV shows were in black and white up until 1966 when CBS and ABC joined NBC in broadcasting primarily in color,
In 1977, 14 percent of homes had cable. By 1985 it was 46 percent. In 1997, basic cable channels had captured a larger prime-time audience than broadcast networks.
VCRs were introduced in 1975 and 1976 and survived legal challenge in 1982. Laser Disks did little to challenge the pre-eminence of the VCR because time shifting was their primary use. In 1999 the TiVo DVR was introduced and DVDs ushered in an era of inexpensive pre-recorded shows.
The term IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is now 21 years old. ABC began putting their shows on the web the day after broadcast almost 10 years ago. Four years ago, July 2012, the House of Lords in Britain suggested that all television should be moved to the internet freeing the spectrum for more constructive uses involving cellular phones as a way to improve the economy.
The transition to internet television is actually fairly slow compared to past changes. Every technological change has threatened some portion of the industry while creating many opportunities elsewhere. IPTV is certainly no different.,As of April 2016, Netflix reported over 81 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 46 million in the U.S. But IPTV may actually shrink the industry overall.
The CW network, the smallest and youngest of the 5 networks in the USA is now broadcasting many shows to fewer than a million viewers. It only broadcasts 10 hours a week, and has no sitcoms, only one hour shows. Most of the shows are superhero or supernatural themed and depend heavily on viewers under age 34. But it seems the most likely candidate to abandon advertising and go to a subscription based internet delivered business model.
The first time we got cable was around 1986 or '87. I don't really remember how many channels we had. All I know is we had TBS, local access channels that you couldn't get over the air, ESPN, MTV, Nickelodeon, and the scrambled movies channels we didn't subscribe to. I think we had about 20 channels in all. Before cable, we could get CBS, NBC, ABC, and then two UHF channels. I think in all, we got about 6 channels over the air. From what I remember, it cost us, initially, about $8/month. Then it went up to about $12/month and my dad got mad and canceled our subscription to cable. I hated that, because I was a BIG fan of MTV in the late 80's. All I wanted to do is watch MTV 24/7!
Later on, around my senior year of high school (1993) we got reconnected to cable. At that point, I think it was about, roughly, 50 channels. It was about $20/month. I kept cable when I moved out on my own, and eventually switched to DirecTV. Nowdays, I'm back to no pay TV. I get about 30+ channels over the air, and supplement with Netflix and Amazon Prime.
From what I remember, it cost us, initially, about $8/month. Then it went up to about $12/month and my dad got mad and canceled our subscription to cable.
Nowdays, I'm back to no pay TV. I get about 30+ channels over the air, and supplement with Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Well $12 in 1987 is about $25 today. The 20 channels were the minimum required by the FCC in their 1976 guidleins.
So you are probably paying $18 for Netflix and Amazon Prime, but you are presumably paying at least $40 for internet.
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